Tuesday, March 3, 1998
Underground history
UCLA’S PAST Though presently buried by tons of earth, grassy
hills and brick walkways, a closer look
at the road into UCLA reveals
a bridge to the past
By Trina Enriquez
Daily Bruin Contributor
Maybe you’ve noticed that little white sign at the Murphy Hall
intersection that reads: "Do not exceed 10,000 lb. g.w. on this
bridge."
Maybe you’ve thought to yourself, "Bridge? What bridge? I don’t
see any bridge," then shrugged and dismissed the notion.
Chances are, you’ve walked across the bridge many times without
realizing it. The low brick walls leading from Murphy to the
flagpole were its guardrails, preventing people from plunging down
the 40-foot drop to the bottom of the arroyo it spanned.
The bridge was erected when construction began on the Westwood
campus in the late 1920s. Trucks rumbled across, transporting the
materials necessary for building Haines, Kinsey and Royce Halls as
well as Powell Library.
After construction was completed, the bridge served as the main
entrance to UCLA until the late 1940s, when it was almost
completely submerged in a sea of dirt to create new building sites
for the expanding campus.
Today, the bridge houses emergency generators, pipes and
electrical conduits while maintaining the distinction of being the
first structure completed on UCLA’s Westwood campus.
Built in 1927, the bridge was designed in the Romanesque style
and served as a better alternative to transporting building
materials via Westwood Boulevard, up the hill where the Janss steps
are now located.
Later, the bridge conducted heavy foot traffic as students
crossed this main thoroughfare to campus. Referred to as simply
"the bridge," alumni recall the dramatic changes it has seen over
the years.
"During my time on campus, late ’30s, early ’40s, there were
lots of rabbits running around," said Jim Klain, a class of ’43
alumnus. "Once in awhile you’d see a deer."
An alumna, Ann Sumner, graduated in 1926 from the Southern
Branch of the University of California – as UCLA was known during
its reign on Vermont Avenue. She returned to UCLA in 1932 as a
staff member.
"We used to be able to look down and see the stream," she said.
"It came down from the hills of Westwood and ended above Le
Conte."
During the Great Depression, there was at least one documented
story of someone living under the bridge.
According to Andrew Hamilton and John B. Jackson’s book about
the history of UCLA, "UCLA on the Move", one night a janitor had
discovered a young woman whose father had suffered major losses in
the 1929 stock market crash. He could no longer afford to fund her
tuition or expenses.
"Because she wanted to finish college, she decided to stick it
out," said Hamilton and Jackson. She discovered that she could use
the women’s gymnasium for her daily shower and sleep under the
bridge at night, having made a bed of several planks, a pile of
straw and blankets from the women’s gymnasium."
Sumner herself recalls a surprising discovery made during a
campus tour in the early 1940s.
"During the war, below where the bridge is, enough food was
stored for 50,000 people if we were bombed," she said. "People were
very frightened of a Japanese submarine attack."
After the end of the war, new building sites were required to
accommodate the burgeoning expansion of UCLA’s campus and
curriculum.
According to Hamilton and Jackson, Provost Clarence A. Dykstra
was one of those opposed to filling in the 300-foot long arroyo to
provide the needed sites. He was in favor of implementing an
underground parking lot.
"The day will arrive, and sooner than most of us realize,"
Dykstra had said, "when tens of thousands of cars will come to the
campus and need such space in which to park."
Yet his prediction went unheeded, and tons of earth were scooped
up from other areas of the campus, dumped and packed into the
chaparral-covered arroyo.
However, the bridge was preserved by placing plywood sheets
against the brick before covering it with dirt.
"There was no need to do anything but fill around it," said Duke
Oakley, assistant vice chancellor of Capital Programs.
He appeared in an episode of the TV show "California Gold,"
focusing on the bridge. "Affection for the structure and economics
were in harmony at this point and prevented the bridge from being
torn down. It instead was encapsulated."
It still acts as a bridge. The columns and spans of the bridge
support the roadway and the sidewalk.
Hence that little white sign at the Murphy intersection.
However, a 1983 study concluded that the bridge was strong enough
to support vehicles holding up to 10 tons, and heavier loads have
rumbled across the bridge without incident.
"We’re not exactly sure where the 10,000 pound rating came
from," said John MacDougall, director of engineering for Capital
Programs. "We’re getting a structural engineer to check and see if
it’s better than thought, or what’s needed to upgrade it.
"It’s been left because it was the first campus structure; it
has historical interest. And it’s a lot of space to fill in. It’s
like Carlsbad Caverns under there."
The "space" to which MacDougall refers is the area directly
under the bridge, sandwiched between the Romanesque arches. An
underground stairwell cattycorner from Dodd Hall is now its main
access point.
Marked off by brown guardrails, the dark stairwell leads to a
door, behind which are the electrical conduit, pipes and emergency
generators, now housed by the bridge. Sundry equipment taken out of
buildings during remodeling have also been stored in the musty,
humid space, should they one day be needed somewhere else.
Wooden steps lead down to a landing, which ends abruptly at a
sharp drop down the ravine. Graffiti is scrawled on several of the
columns and walls, some of it dated in the early 1940s. Pranksters
have been known to light fireworks and dump toilets into the
ravine.
The same stream seen by Sumner still runs through an opening at
the bottom of one of the arches though, causing soil erosion
problems when heavy rains deluge the area, as has been the case for
the past year.
Thus over a span of seventy years, the bridge has evolved from
an affectionately regarded campus landmark to a little-known
legacy.
As ’43 alumnus Jim Klain had recounted on "California Gold," it
was difficult to say, "Well, I’ll meet you at the bridge," when
other people would say, "What are you talking about? What bridge?"
And then Klain laughed and remembered: "Oh, that’s right, they
filled that gully in."
Yet the bridge remains today, its guardrails serving as a
reminder that it is, in fact, the most original structure on the
UCLA campus.
In 1927, students expected to see a Romanesque bridge (first)
joining the ravine which once separated Murphy Hall from Royce
Quad. The bridge (second) was the first structure built on the
Westwood campus, but today (third) it acts as a walkway into
campus.